1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the extraction of heat from hot chimney effluent and, more particularly, to a heat exchanger and pollution trap for installation on the top of a chimney.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Many attempts have been made in the past to extract heat from hot effluent flue gases passing up the chimney or smoke stack of a building, such heat being desirably returned to the building for heating thereof. Such prior art attempts have not been universally accepted, primarily due to difficulties and expense of installation in that most prior art heat exchanger devices have been mounted within the chimney or smoke stack requiring alteration thereof for installation. There are many pitfalls in the design of an efficient, and yet, safe heat exchanger for flue gases including the construction of an efficient heat exchanger assembly while assuring no mixture of hot effluent with air to be heated and returned to the building. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,663,549 to Otten and 3,960,992 to Cyrenne are exemplary of prior art attempts to utilize heat exchangers for extracting heat from flue gases.
Along with the extraction of heat from effluent flue gases, it is also desirable to remove pollutants from such gases to maintain the atmosphere as clean as possible. While the prior art, as represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,085,712 to Vadner, 3,403,499 to Sador and 3,918,915 to Holler, Jr., is cognizant of the use of a mass of solid pellets or particles to remove pollutants from flue gases, there has been no device produced for removing pollutants from flue gases while providing efficient heat transfer to fresh air for supply to a building.